Browns: Grading out all the 2020 free agents after year one
By Chad Porto
LB B.J. Goodson
Contract: 1 year/ $2.4 million
2020 Stats: 14 GP, 91 tackles, 0.5 sack, 6 pass deflections, 2 INTs
Performance Grade: D+
Contract Grade: C
B.J. Goodson probably won’t be back for Cleveland, at least as a starter. His place, on its own, was a disappointment considering who he replaced. That said, he was not an investment that’s going to hurt the team long term and one could even argue his number isn’t too far off from being an acceptable multi-year figure for a backup.
It’s true Goodson really didn’t improve the rush defense, which goes back to the point of last offseason when we screamed “it’s not the linebackers faults, it’s the defensive tackles” repeatedly. He also was lost when it came to covering guys across the middle. Yet, in a pinch, you’d be feeling fine if Goodson was your backup at the middle linebacker spot. He’s not overly athletic and he doesn’t get to the point of contact all that fast but he doesn’t have an erratic level of production.
He’s never great but never terrible.